Worldwide NAC enforcement appliance revenue decreased 6% from 2Q09 to 3Q09, to $37 million. NAC enforcement appliance revenue is forecast to move into positive territory starting in 4Q09 and to continue growing in the double-digit percents annually through at least 2013. The most important long-term drivers for deploying NAC solutions include:Regulation and compliance; Explosive growth in the number, variety, and volume of threats; Security investment as a cost-saving measure; and service provider spending on security

"The NAC enforcement appliance market was impacted squarely by the financial services meltdown and suffered a prolonged downturn as Cisco (by far the largest vendor in the space) saw large decreases in security revenue through the first half of 2009. And while there is still strong fundamental demand for NAC technology, many companies are looking for NAC functionality to be included in infrastructure purchases, or to solve NAC problems with software or management, shifting some of the opportunity away from the discrete standalone appliance market, explains Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.